August 8, 2011

We spent a very wet weekend at the Wassaic Project, the artist residency and summer festival that’s part of the emerging scene the Times dubbed “Williamsburg on the Hudson.” Indeed, rather than asking fellow campers and attendees where they were from, it was a quicker bet to just say, “So, which neighborhood in Brooklyn are you from?”

At the center of the festival are the works of 100 artists in the seven story former grain silo. While we didn’t enjoy the artwork nearly as much as we did in the 2010 festival — overall, it just didn’t pack as much of a technical or emotional punch for us as it did last year — there still were a number of gems.

There were some great performances outside of the silo, too. The music lineup was augmented by sound mixing as beautiful and clear as we’ve ever heard in any outdoor venue. It began to pour rain Saturday afternoon, and a particularly magical moment happened when the whole festival moved into the tiny hamlet’s only bar, just in time for the amazing Electric Junkyard Gamelan to perform for festival goers and locals alike.

Here, in no special order, are some of the highlights we enjoyed over the weekend.

Plan of the City by Joshua Frankel
A real highlight for us was Joshua Frankel’s animated/live action film Plan of the City, which was exhibited in a loop with other works in the silo. Frankel also curated an outstanding selection of animated films by other filmmakers, which were shown in the festival’s cattle auction barn-turned movie theater. [Detail from All the Trappings: (s)wallow by Angela Zammarelli

Here it is with a participant riding it.[Remember When Tomorrow Came by Ghost of a Dream
To view this installation, the viewer has to step into a wooden box, where they’ll find themselves in a chamber with a glass floor and ceiling, lined with lottery tickets and light.

[The Birdcage Universe by James Weingrod
Tucked into the air shaft as you ascend the silo, here’s James Weingrod’s perpetually spinning view of the cosmos. [Arch 1000, Check 1000, Look 1000 by Amy Podmore
Utilizing half a male mannequin, a parachute, and a grate to create the Marilyn Monroe-Seven Year Itch effect, Amy Podmore’s installation seemed to be a crowd favorite (though it made one baby we saw scream with fear).